On GOP Train Crash Conspiracy Theories

Earlier today, an Amtrak train carrying Republican members of Congress to a retreat at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia hit a dump truck that was on the tracks for an unknown reason.

The truck driver was killed, a passenger severely injured, and several GOPers suffered minor injuries as a result of the accident.

NOW: Amtrak train collides with garbage truck in Crozet. Nurse on scene reports at least one fatality and at least one in critical condition. NBC29 is on scene and will bring you more details as we get them. pic.twitter.com/eU0uYL0JQx

Normally, this kind of thing would be the domain of local news. However, the Republican party has been hijacked by a gang of conspiracy theorists who see the Obama/Clinton Deep State at work every time they stub their toe or the grocery store runs out of their favorite cereal.

To them, this crash couldn’t have been an accident, because “accidents” don’t just “happen.” It must have been a plot to either decapitate the GOP, or distract us from the all-powerful Devin Nunes memo or President Trump’s country-uniting State of the Union. Or maybe it was antifa. They’re pretty much responsible for everything that George Soros isn’t, right?

And because social media has given these disturbed people a megaphone where they get to shout nonsense at fellow travelers all day, we get garbage like this.

After democrat James Hodgkinson attempted to assassinate Steve Scalise and a group of Republican congressmen, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that this could have been intentional.#Amtrak#TrainCrash

Occam’s Razor and basic logic demand that until we find out more about the crash, we treat it as occurring because of the simplest explanation.

And to be clear, we have no idea why the truck was on the tracks. Maybe it stalled. Maybe it ran out of gas. Maybe the drivers were having an argument. Maybe it was foolishly trying to cross the tracks in front of the train.

We don’t know. But “we don’t know” does not mean “we don’t know, so it was a deep state coup attempt to stop the memo being released.” It just means we don’t know yet, and that guessing without more information is likely to bring false conclusions.

#TrainCrash Who at Amtrak knew the schedule and the participants? Who, connected to Congress, may have a vested interest in murdering the opposition party? #Qanon#TheStorm This was an attempted assassination, make no mistake about it.

Instapot conspiracy theories like this rely on the idea that nothing happens by accident or coincidence, and therefore, everything happens by design. But of course, that’s not true.

Trains hit cars all the time. According to advocacy group Operation Lifesaver, there were over 2,000 vehicle/train collisions in the US in 2016. And that number has gone down quite a bit since the early 80’s, when there were over 9,000 collisions.

And their data shows that there hasn’t been a recorded year with fewer than 230 vehicle fatalities at a railroad crossing.

Was the #TrainCrash a deliberate act of sabotage? Its possible. The truck driver is dead. I do not believe in coincidences. Glad all GOP members are alive and well. #ReleaseTheMemo#QAnon